Having often received an Invitation from my Friend Sir ROGER DE
COVERLEY to pass away a Month with him in the Country, I last week
accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some Time at his
Country-house, where I intend to form several of my ensuing
Speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my Humour,
lets me rise and go to Bed when I please, dine at his own Table or in
my Chamber as I think fit, sit still and say nothing without bidding
me be merry. When the Gentlemen of the County come to see him, he only
shews me at a distance: As I have been walking in his Fields I have
observed them stealing a Sight of me over an Hedge, and have heard the
Knight desiring them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be
stared at.
I am the more at Ease in Sir Roger's Family, because it consists of
sober and staid Persons; for as the Knight is the best Master in the
World, he seldom changes his Servants; and as he is beloved by all
about him, his Servants never care for leaving him: By this Means his
Domesticks are all in Years, and grown old with their Master. You
would take his Valet de Chambre for his Brother, his Butler is
grey-headed, his Groom is one of the gravest Men that I have ever
seen, and his Coachman has the Looks of a Privy-Counsellor. You see
the Goodness of the Master even in the old House-dog, and in a gray
Pad that is kept in the Stable with great Care and tenderness out of
Regard to his past Services, tho' he has been useless for several
Years.
I could not but observe with a great deal of Pleasure the Joy that
appeared in the Countenances of these ancient Domesticks upon my
Friend's Arrival at his Country-Seat. Some of them could not refrain
from Tears at the Sight of their old Master; every one of them press'd
forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were
not employed. At the same Time the good old Knight, with a Mixture of
the Father and the Master of the Family, tempered the Enquiries after
his own affairs with several kind Questions relating to themselves.
This Humanity and Good nature engages every Body to him, so that when
he is pleasant upon any of them, all his Family are in good Humour,
and none so much as the Person whom He diverts himself with: On the
Contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any Infirmity of old Age, it is
easy for a Stander-by to observe a secret Concern in the Looks of all
his Servants.
My worthy Friend has put me under the particular Care of his Butler,
who is a very prudent Man, and, as well as the rest of his
Fellow-Servants, wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they
have often heard their Master talk of me as of his particular Friend.
My chief Companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the Woods
or the Fields, is a very venerable Man who is ever with Sir Roger, and
has lived at his House in the Nature of a Chaplain above thirty Years.
This Gentleman is a Person of good Sense and some Learning, of a very
regular Life and obliging Conversation: He heartily loves Sir Roger,
and knows that he is very much in the old Knight's Esteem; so that he
lives in the Family rather as a Relation than a Dependant.
I have observed in several of my Papers that my Friend Sir Roger,
amidst all his good Qualities, is something of an Humourist; and that
his Virtues, as well as Imperfections, are as it were tinged by a
certain Extravagance, which makes them particularly _his_, and
distinguishes them from those of other Men. This Cast of Mind, as it
is generally very innocent in it self, so it renders his Conversation
highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same Degree of Sense
and Virtue would appear in their common and ordinary Colours. As I was
walking with him last Night, he ask'd me how I liked the good Man whom
I have just now mentioned? and without staying for my Answer, told me,
That he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own
Table; for which Reason, he desired a particular Friend of his at the
University to find him out a Clergyman rather of plain Sense than much
Learning, of a good Aspect, a clear Voice, a sociable Temper, and, if
possible, a Man that understood a little of Back-Gammon. "My friend,"
says Sir Roger, "found me out this Gentleman, who, besides the
Endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good Scholar though he
does not shew it. I have given him the Parsonage of the Parish; and
because I know his Value, have settled upon him a good Annuity for
Life. If he out-lives me, he shall find that he was higher in my
Esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty
Years; and though he does not know I have taken Notice of it, has
never in all that Time asked any thing of me for himself, tho' he is
every Day solliciting me for something in Behalf of one or other of my
Tenants his Parishioners. There has not been a Law-Suit in the Parish
since he has lived among them: If any Dispute arises, they apply
themselves to him for the Decision; if they do not acquiesce in his
Judgment, which I think never happened above once, or twice at most,
they appeal to me. At his first settling with me, I made him a Present
of all the good Sermons which have been printed in _English_, and only
begged of him that every _Sunday_ he would pronounce one of them in
the Pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested them into such a Series, that
they follow one another naturally, and make a continued System of
practical Divinity."
As Sir Roger was going on in his Story, the Gentleman we were talking
of came up to us; and upon the Knight's asking him who preached to
Morrow (for it was _Saturday_ Night) told us, the Bishop of St.
_Asaph_ in the Morning, and Doctor _South_ in the Afternoon. He then
shewed us his List of Preachers for the whole Year, where I saw with a
great deal of Pleasure Archbishop _Tillotson_, Bishop _Saunderson_,
Doctor _Barrow_, Doctor _Calamy_, with several living Authors who have
published Discourses of Practical Divinity. I no sooner saw this
venerable Man in the Pulpit, but I very much approved of my Friend's
insisting upon the Qualifications of a good Aspect and a clear Voice;
for I was so charmed with the Gracefulness of his Figure and Delivery,
as well as with the Discourses he pronounced, that I think I never
passed any Time more to my Satisfaction. A Sermon repeated after this
Manner, is like the Composition of a Poet in the Mouth of a graceful
Actor.
I could heartily wish that more of our Country-Clergy would follow
this Example; and instead of wasting their Spirits in laborious
Compositions of their own, would endeavour after a handsome Elocution,
and all those other Talents that are proper to enforce what has been
penned by greater Masters. This would not only be more easy to
themselves, but more edifying to the People.
_Addison._